Traders looking to harness the power of crowdsourcing to find trading ideas have ample tools on eToro’s social trading network to copy the trades of other users in real time across over 1000 instruments, including CFDs on popular cryptocurrencies.

Review Sections:

As an early pioneer in social copy trading, eToro was founded in Israel in 2006 as a financial trading technology developer. After launching its first product, it has since grown to service over 4.5 million users with an innovative platform that continually evolves to be one of the largest social networks globally, with clients in over 170 countries.

eToro is regulated in the UK and Cyprus, with passports throughout Europe under MiFID. It also maintains a dormant US entity regulated with the National Futures Association (NFA). Since our 2017 review, eToro transitioned from its prior generation platforms, including its WebTrader and CopyTrader products, which have been integrated into the new eToro platform experience for web and mobile.

eToro also offers CopyFunds, which are structured portfolios that use baskets of user-driven strategies, and provide a Top Trader module that automatically copies the most successful traders. In 2017, eToro nearly doubled the number of CFDs it offers, bringing the total up to 1,096, including on popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Dash, and Ripple (read our eToro Crypto review).

Trust Score

Trading with a forex broker traders can trust is crucial to success. Unfortunately, forex fraud and scams are common in the industry.

Here at ForexBrokers.com, we maintain the largest independent regulatory database available on the web. Using 28 different variables, we have created a proprietary 1-100 score (the higher the better) of overall trustworthiness, which we call the Trust Score. Here is our trust summary of eToro.

eToro

Trust Score

86

Year Founded

2007

Publicly-Traded Company (Listed)

No

Regulated in Major Hub

Yes

Regulated in Emerging Hub

Yes

Authorised in the European Union

Yes

CFTC Registered (USA)

Yes

FCA Regulated (UK)

Yes

IIROC Authorised (Canada)

No

FINMA Authorised (Switzerland)

No

ASIC Authorised (Australia)

Yes

SFC Authorised (Hong Kong)

No

MAS Authorised (Singapore)

No

FSA Authorised (Japan)

No

FMA Authorised (New Zealand)

No

CySEC Authorised (Cyprus)

Yes

Offering of Investments

The following table summarizes the different investment products available to eToro clients.

eToro

Minimum Initial Deposit

$200

Currency Pairs (Total Forex pairs)

47

CFDs - Total Offered

1449

Exchange Traded Securities: US

No

Exchange Traded Securities: International

No

Cryptocurrency traded as actual

Yes

Cryptocurrency traded as CFD

Yes

Commissions & Fees

eToro is a market-maker broker and lists a typical minimum fixed spread of three pips on the EUR/USD, which is on the high end of the range when comparing brokers with fixed and floating spreads, making it a more expensive platform.

For high volume traders who deposit over $20,000, eToro offers a premium account that provides additional perks such as withdrawal priority and access to an online trading room, among other VIP-style account benefits. It also offers a popular trader program that can further reduce spreads for those who meet strict performance criteria, as explained in the commission notes section further down the page.

It is clear that when comparing fees alone, retail traders don’t choose eToro for its spreads, but rather for its platform and social trading capabilities tools (which are discussed further down), as its pricing is otherwise expensive.

eToro

Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard

3.00

All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active

N/A

Active Trader or Premium/VIP

Yes

Customer Service

For our 2018 Forex Review, 129 customer service phone tests were conducted over three months. The data collected is institutional grade. On average, three questions were asked for each test. To score each test, the tests were divided into three separate groups and scores were given for the time taken to connect with each support representative and the ability of each representative to professionally (and thoroughly) answer each question. A Net Promoter Score was also given for the overall experience.

Results:

Average Connection Time: 2-3 minutes

Average Net Promoter Score: 7 / 10

Average Professionalism Score: 6.4 / 10

Overall Score: 7.0 / 10

Ranking: 31st (43 brokers)

Research

Beyond a standard economic calendar (which can only be viewed on the website) and news headlines (also found only on the website), there is little to no research on eToro in the traditional sense of technical and fundamental analysis.

eToro does, however, incorporate many social elements into its available research tools when it comes to market sentiment. For example, rather than show sentiment based on all users – only the trades of top traders are used to calculate sentiment data (taking it a step above the usual sentiment tools brokers provide). In addition, collective commentary about an instrument will appear as a stream of updates from users to give you an idea of what other traders are posting about in the eToro network, compared to StockTwits, for example.

There are also screeners, and gainers and losers are shown within the platform. Overall, the research offering has a good foundation but can be improved. For example, adding news headlines and incorporating the economic calendar into the platform experience would help fill the gap in the research tools available on the eToro platform.

eToro

Daily Market Commentary

No

Forex News (Top-Tier Sources)

No

AutoChartist

No

Trading Central (Recognia)

No

Delkos Research

No

Acuity Trading

No

Social Trading / Copy-Trading

Yes

Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs

Yes

Client Webinars

Yes

Client Webinars (Archived)

No

Videos - Beginner Trading Videos

Yes

Economic Calendar

Yes

Calendar Includes Forecasts

Yes

Economic News Sentiment

Yes

Trade Ideas - Backtesting

No

Platforms & Tools

After transitioning from its old WebTrader platform, decommissioned in April 2017, the latest generation eToro platform is web based and provides a richer experience.

Starting with watchlists, it was easy to carry out basic operations and do things quickly, such as creating several watchlists and adding instruments by searching available markets, as well as placing a trade from each watchlist directly. Although there were only a few optional columns in the watchlist, they were the most essential for trading.

Another nice feature was the ability to drag and move around watchlist items and change the view. The list is highly dynamic and has been incorporated throughout the platform. It is also the starting place to set an alert or open a chart window. For example, you can even add customer service to your watch list, which is an ingenious approach to innovation when it comes to watch list functionality.

Charting was seamless, with 66 indicators, 14 drawing tools, and easy zooming in and out of price data.

The drawing tools could be made more accessible by moving them to the upper toolbar of the chart window. In the current setup, they are bundled together with the technical indicators. Drawback aside, the charts are user-friendly.

Stepping away from charts, one very innovative tool is CopyFunds, where eToro does the work for you. By grouping top traders into a single fund you can copy trade. For clients who have a hard time deciding who to copy trade, CopyFunds can be an alternative solution as each fund consists of a group of pre-selected traders you will automatically copy by investing in that particular CopyFund.

CopyFunds help bridge the gap for investors who want to use eToro on a passive basis, as they can create a portfolio based entirely on one or more CopyFunds.

CopyFunds help bridge the gap for investors who want to use eToro on a passive basis, as they can create a portfolio based entirely on one or more CopyFunds. On the other hand, self-directed traders can also use CopyFunds to diversify their own trading, making it potentially useful for all eToro clients.

Besides CopyFunds, other features such as the editors’ choice and popular traders serve as additional ways eToro attempts to find you the best traders to copy and/or follow. With platform settings, eToro offers the ability to set a default trade size, leverage selection, and even a default stop and limit levels, per instrument traded.

While similar functions exist at other firms, by reducing the number of clicks and mouse movements, eToro has made it seamless to do many of the things on its platform that would otherwise be time intensive, such as searching across thousands of users to copy trade.

All traders on eToro trade manually. Fully automated trading systems are not permitted, which means when you copy another trader, you can be sure they are placing each trade manually. This is useful to know as many other social trading platforms that aggregate the performance of traders usually permit both discretionary (manual) trades as well as automated strategies, while eToro’s network consists solely of manual trading.

All in all, the freshly launched eToro platform makes it easy to search for traders that meet specific performance criteria. Or, if you just want to use the platform for self-directed investing, it is balanced for that too, despite the unavoidable social elements woven throughout the experience. eToro has done well merging self-directed trading and copy trading together under a unified trading experience. It’s a winning combination.

eToro

Virtual Trading (Demo)

Yes

Desktop Platform (Windows)

No

Desktop Platform (Mac)

No

Web Platform

Yes

Social Trading / Copy-Trading

Yes

Proprietary

Yes

MetaTrader4 (MT4)

No

MetaTrader5 (MT5)

No

cTrader

No

Currenex

No

ZuluTrade

No

MirrorTrader

No

Charting - Drawing Tools (Total)

14

Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total)

66

Watchlists - Total Fields

6

Order Type - Trailing Stop

Yes

Mobile Trading

Testing the mobile app on Android, I quickly noticed after logging in that eToro has done very well in maintaining the look and feel of the web version. Functionality such as syncing watchlists helps to further unify the platform experience across devices.

Like the rest of the mobile app, the charts were responsive and closely matched the web platform, even though just a handful of indicators are present compared to 67 on the web. Drawing tools were missing from the app entirely and would be a welcome enhancement. Otherwise, the charts in the mobile app are nicely integrated and function well, despite the lack of drawing tools.

Overall, eToro has done a great job with its mobile experience.

eToro

Android App

Yes

Apple iOS App

Yes

Charting - Draw Trend Lines

No

Charting - Can Turn Horizontally

Yes

Charting - Technical Studies/Indicators

5

Watch List Syncing

Yes

Trading - Forex

Yes

Trading - CFDs

Yes

Alerts - Basic Fields

No

Other Notes

It is worth noting that eToro provides educational content in the form of an eCourse powered by MTE-Media, which caters to a growing number of brokers providing streamlined educational services.

When you place a trade on eToro, there is always a default stop-loss order and limit attached to manage the risk/reward of each trade, which can be adjusted within certain permissible ranges (usually up to an amount equal to the margin used). While this mandatory stop-loss and limit can be a good safety net to protect beginners, it may limit more experienced traders as certain strategies are not supported because of this rule.

Final Thoughts

eToro can be great for retail traders who want to crowd source investment ideas using the power of copy trading, or for highly experienced traders who want to be rewarded for sharing their ideas with other traders.

Beginners requiring handholding may find the user-friendly platform an added benefit. That said, I do not recommend eToro for active or high-volume traders as high spreads and small maximum trade sizes will be a limiting factor. While there is a smaller range of FX pairs and CFDs offered compared to the top ten multi-asset brokers, eToro doesn’t trails far behind as it offers over 1,000 instruments which puts it ahead of the 32 other brokers we reviewed who are closer to the industry average near 115. eToro’s expansion of its Cryptocurrency CFD offering in 2017 (read our eToro Crypto review) helped the broker further define its position to stay ahead of trends.

Overall, eToro brings years of ongoing innovation to its evolving trading platforms, making it one of the leading social copy trading providers. With regulatory licenses predominantly in Europe, eToro offers users a rich and fun experience – thanks to its gamification of trading.

Methodology

Forex Risk Disclaimer

"There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses."Learn more.

Reviewed by Steven Hatzakis
Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 19 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.

eToro Competitors

Select one or more of these brokers to compare against eToro.

checkcheckcheckcheck

Ratings
Overall

Summary

Commissions & Fees

Offering of Investments

Platforms & Tools

Research

Customer Service

Mobile Trading

Education

Best in Class

2018

18 of 43

Overall

Social Copy Trading

Crypto Trading

2017

13 of 20

Overall

Customer Service

Commissions & Fees

Commission Notes

Besides clients designated as “popular traders” who may receive discounted spreads, the spreads are the same across eToro’s UK and Cyprus entity, with the main difference being the regulatory jurisdiction within Europe. eToro lists a typical bid/ask spread of 3 pips on the EUR/USD, for example, and there is no further commission added, making the spread indicative of the all-in cost to trade.

eToro UK:

This account is only available to clients who deposit $5,000 or are UK residents.

eToro Europe (Cyprus):

This account can be opened with a minimum deposit of $200.

“Popular Trader” program:

eToro’s Popular Trader program has four tiers – from cadet to elite – where you can be rewarded with various perks ranging from spread rebates to a monthly payment and even a management fee for those who reach elite status.

Unlike an active trader program, which usually requires volumes and/or deposit thresholds to be met, the popular trader program encourages traders to focus on producing successful results to receive applicable incentives.

Trading CFDs, FX, and cryptocurrencies involves a high degree of risk. All providers have a percentage of retail investor accounts that lose money when trading CFDs with their company. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money and whether you understand how CFDs, FX, and cryptocurrencies work. All data was obtained from a published web site as of 4/03/2018 and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. The ForexBrokers.com staff is constantly working with its online broker representatives to obtain the latest data. If you believe any data listed above is inaccurate, please contact us using the link at the bottom of this page.

Disclaimer: It is our organization's primary mission to provide reviews, commentary, and analysis that are unbiased and objective. While ForexBrokers.com has some data verified by industry participants, it can vary from time to time. Operating as an online business, this site may be compensated through third party advertisers. Our receipt of such compensation shall not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation by ForexBrokers.com, nor shall it bias our reviews, analysis, and opinions. Please see our General Disclaimers for more information.